


A Trick of the Light

by upquarkAO3



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Schoolkids' holiday shows are...a test of divine endurance, The Devil is no match for the Decker Women, The Winter Holiday Potluck Fic Fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 23:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13134666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upquarkAO3/pseuds/upquarkAO3
Summary: Surely Lucifer didn't leave Hell just to find himself trapped in another one? Right?Well, he'd been mistaken before.





	A Trick of the Light

**Author's Note:**

> A few blurry words for a fun challenge! (AKA: Scribbling As Escapism; Why Not? :-) Happy Everything, Everyone!!

` * `

“This is ghastly.”

“They’re  children .”

“Exactly.”

“Shhh!”

Chloe answered the hiss of the older woman who’d jerked halfway around with a pained, apologetic smile and then turned to glare at Lucifer fidgeting beside her.

“ _What?_ ” This complaint was only slightly less quiet and the Detective’s sharp eyes narrowed. She even might’ve growled; he wasn’t sure. He  was  sure of the pinch to his elbow though, and his indignant squeak was matched by the chair in front of him when the portly occupant twisted fully to add her own dirty look to Chloe’s.

Of course she was met by a wide, saccharine smile from the Devil himself, so after staring a moment she spun back, cheeks resolutely pinking even under thick foundation and two-shades-too-dark rouge.

She tittered to her adjacent friend who peeked over a knobbly shoulder with wide, mascara-fanged eyes and tittered in turn.

Lucifer upped the ante and wiggled his fingertips at them.

Chloe heaved a blustery sigh and gave the ceiling some serious consideration.

Lucifer’s grin bloomed Cheshire-sized. His father’s little miracle or not she’d be looking for reprieve from above an awfully long time; it was the way of things. Sotto voce he murmured to her, “Now now, darling, just because **you’re** immune doesn’t mean **all** ladies are. Including your progeny, I might add.”

“Yeah, yeah. Which is how you found yourself invited here in the first place, remember? So don’t gloat. Besides, she’s got you wrapped around her finger and you know it.”

Lucifer huffed and glowered malevolently towards the stage. Chloe’s retort irritated him because she was right: seems every small victory came at a cost with these Deckers. Another pinch on his Prada called a halt to his squirming, but just barely. How he’d gotten himself roped into attending the child’s holiday recital snooze-fest he had no idea. He hadn’t expected Carnegie Hall obviously, but _blast this horde of lemming-esque folding chairs in the school cafeteria anyway!_ He’d have to invent a new circle of Hell for the maker of these monstrosities. But the sulking? Yeah, he could keep still and manage  that  just fine.

So he did.

He sulked through the first-grade’s caterwauling chorus of Dad-only-knows-what. Sounded like someone was crushing a crinkly bag of squeaky pet toys. With a pogo stick. And occasional stiletto.

He sulked through the second grade’s ASL version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Or, at least he thought it was supposed to be ASL. Group seizure? Transient palsy? Hard to tell, really.

He sulked through the third-grade’s rendition of Let It Snow, Dreidel Dreidel and then Silent Night (an oxymoron if ever there was one) on the recorders. Recorders! Given to children! Awful. Yet another circle of Hell clearly well-deserved for the daft person with a well-honed sadistic streak who’d thought of that. By all his stars, music was still one of the gifts nestled warmly within him – and hearing the auditory mangling made Lucifer want to scream. He took a breath and leaned over to Chloe to say as much, but she simply flicked him on the ear without even blinking.

Fine, then.

By the time Trixie and her conglomeration of co-ed Lord Of the Flies rejects had taken the stage for a ‘Frosty the Snowman’ skit, Lucifer was certain he was going to lose what was left of his mind. He risked tipping his head towards Chloe once more.

“You’re **truly** enjoying this? Really?!”

“Yes!”

He glanced sideways with a raised eyebrow and felt the frame on his Grinchy heart crack a bit. Chloe, like most of the audience here, was enraptured. Her eyes shone with the light from the stage and a small smile turned the corners of her full mouth up.

She was beautiful.

Her expression; the same one on most faces really, was beautiful too.

Oh.

Well.

So, this was how parents were _supposed_ to look upon the fruits of their children’s labors, even if it was roughly done. Proudly. With love.

Good  parents, anyway.

His heart stung a little more, but for a different reason.

Lucifer was yanked out of his darkening thoughts by a tiny object landing on the end of his nose. Then another. Then more? On his lap, on his lapels, on his thick eyelashes as he squinted up.

“What the bloody - ”

“It’s Frosty’s magical Christmas snow!”

“Plasticized ash, more like. Spawned from a petroleum Vesuvius indeed: deadly as the original, I’m certain.” he grumbled. Still, looking at Chloe as she reached out a palm to catch a few of the fake flakes softened him.

“Snow is nothing like ashes.”

“Fat lot you’d know about it.”

‘Well not ash, no. Snow, however – **that** I know something about.”

“I’m sure you think you do.”

With that, Lucifer crossed his arms and faced forward once more, brow furrowed and jaw working. ‘Snow’, indeed. Picture-postcard fluff and nonsense on paintings and ski-slopes. Like many things humans were convinced they understood implicitly, only the merest whisper of a thing’s possibilities ever tickled their brains.

Snow, **Hell’s** snow, was the emancipated version of even the worst of what they knew here. Fire in the form of frost: caustic stuff that seared and tormented those exposed. Come to think of it, not much different than the ever-present ash from the vast furnaces –  that  burned, too. Differently, though. From the inside out; a product of the slow, suffocating extinction of whatever hope the tortured souls might’ve come in with. And like Soylent Green, this by-product of despair choked the others in a never-ending cycle that none had yet broken free from.

Well. Strike that – rewind.  He’d  managed – escaped Hell only to wind up in a transient one here what with his arse going numb on this ridiculous chair. And, okay – one other had as well. But Yeshua didn’t **really** count, seeing as he had a divine hall pass, as it were. That cheeky little bastard had himself a get-out-of-jail-free card straight from Dad. Lucifer scowled harder. Just because he loved his youngest brother didn’t mean he wasn’t furious with how **that** whole thing had played out.

Anyway.

Lucifer studiously ignored Chloe’s quizzical look and then her two questioning pokes. Through the cacophony he heard her hum thoughtfully and ignored that as well, knowing she’d allow herself to get lost under the spell of children’s magic quickly enough. She usually had scant patience for what she considered his petulance and he was certain this time would be no different.

He was wrong of course.

As his - friend – Chloe always knew when something truly disturbed him and was probably more careful about his feelings that he was himself most times. But, choosing silence as he had meant she could wait. For now.

Besides, even if they whispered those powdered, simpering biddies would probably just turn around and ogle him again.

Not that he hadn’t encouraged it with that stupid little wave.

She shook her head slightly. Gross. Not the looking, per say – she hoped she’d still get **her** head turned by pretty at their age – no, not that. It was the slavering. They didn’t even  know  him. And he was worth getting to know, even if deep down he didn’t seem to think so.

He **was** a little dense sometimes.

Part of his charm, she supposed.

They sat in silence for the rest of the show and Chloe was pleased that Lucifer stood to clap along with the rest of the audience when it was all over. Of course, he was probably just applauding THAT it was over and in relief that Trixie’s school only went up to the sixth grade.

Well, whatever. Her daughter had wanted him to come and so he had AND he’d stayed the whole time, irritated or not.

He always did, come to think of it. Stick with them. Be there. Every single time it  really  mattered.

Giving herself a little shake so she’d not get stuck in her head Chloe started peering around the milling crowd for Trixie. In the thick press of people it would be near impossible to get out of their scoliotic line of chairs, much less find one small person.

“Ridiculous, the whole thing. Who planned this? Ought to be strung up! And not in the good way.”

“Lucifer,” Chloe started to admonish him with a hand on his elbow but he shook her off to plant his fingers and thumb in the sides of his mouth and let fly a piercing whistle. In the instant of shocked silence following, Lucifer waved one long arm over his head and called out loudly.

“SEE HERE NOW, CHILD!”

From the stage area, an answering gleeful shriek, “HI LUCIFER! IS MOM WITH YOU?”

“WELL, WHERE ELSE WOULD SHE BE? **Come on, then. We’re right here. I’ve had more than enough of milling about with the great unwashed, so hustle!”**

“ON MY WAY! DON’T GET YOUR PANTS IN A BUNCH!”

Lucifer was delighted with the response, of course. “Wonderful! She’s finally using correct vernacular in her jibes; about time.” He glanced down at the exasperated look on Chloe’s face and misunderstood it, per norm. He patted her arm reassuringly.

“There, now. With her moxie she’ll wade on though better than Moses ever did and then we can finally be finished with this…this…” Lucifer paused while he was trying to think of an appropriately descriptive word and Chloe just shook her head. Her next PTA meeting was gonna be…interesting.

Sure enough, Trixe wormed her way over to them quicker than her mother had thought possible, and after all the congratulations and cooing and chatter with other families of Trixie’s friends Lucifer clearly found noxious the three found themselves out by Chloe’s car. A little breathless yes, but all in one triptych piece and ready to go. One more than the others, certainly.

“Did you make a video for Daddy and Maze?”

“Well, my phone would’ve probably been pretty awful.” Chloe could practically feel her daughter’s disappointment and continued quickly. “But Braylen’s mom had a really nice camera and promised to send a link to those of us that asked.”

Reversing carefully so as to not smush any errant stragglers Chloe could practically  hear  the eye-roll from the back seat. “Oh wow, finally something useful will come out of all that bragging she does about her parents being in the movie business. I mean, you and Nana were actually IN the movies – not just behind the scenes!”

To cringe or not to cringe? That was the question Chloe considered carefully as she slogged out into traffic.

“Well, you’re right, it isn’t good manners to brag,” Chloe paused long enough to shoot a ‘seriously don’t even’ look at whatever was going to come out of Lucifer’s opening mouth. “But that goes both ways, monkey. Besides, it’s not like my brief acting career was really gonna put me in the running for a major award or anything.”

“Nana’s did.”

“In-deed. Quite.” Lucifer looked pleased he’d finally gotten a word in. Two, even.

And on that, Chloe snapped her jaw shut. She still didn’t know what exactly her mother had told Trix about the shiny, slightly phallic array of Lucite and trailer-hitch quality chrome ‘prizes’ she’d collected over the years, but oh well. If her daughter was proud of what she considered her grandmother’s professional achievements, it was probably more than Chloe had ever been. She bit the inside of her cheek; it was always hard to admit you were slightly embarrassed about someone you loved dearly. Maybe even harder to admit your kid sometimes had a better handle on just appreciating someone as they were, not what you thought they should be.

Hm.

She skimmed a glance sideways at Lucifer’s profile. Lit by the rhythmic staccato of the streetlights he almost looked as if he was in an old-fashioned flick himself. **He’d** never been embarrassed by her mother, over the top though she was.

Come to think of it, he wasn’t embarrassed by much at all.

Except most anything delving deeper than the mere superficial, but hey – no one is perfect, right?

Chloe lost herself a bit further in her own muddled thoughts, the background noise of Lucifer and Trixie’s good-natured bickering almost but not quite drowning out the pabulum of sanitized holiday cheer on the radio. By the time she pulled behind Maze’s car in the alleyway Lucifer seemed free of his earlier moodiness and even allowed himself to be dragged along by a very determined child still dressed in the back end of a reindeer costume. It wasn’t the most glamorous role, but Trixie had been pleased that she wasn’t the FRONT end, saying, ‘That papier-mache head smells like kid-sweat and bad breath;  **_so_ ** gross, mom. I just told Carrie not to fart or I’d pinch her.’

An enthusiastic diplomat steeped in realism at the tender age of eight-and-a-half. Chloe wasn’t sure if she ought to be mortified or in awe.

And her daughter continued in the same vein hurrying Lucifer down the sidewalk.

“Come ON, poky! If Maze is done work, Dad should be with her and we can show them the video from that ‘vidiot’!”

“Honestly, what you consider humorous is appalling. Not to mention your taste in entertainment.  So  plebian. Once is enough for one night, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’ve never said THAT before.” Tailing along behind them, Chloe thought she’d spoken softly enough to not be overheard, but Lucifer looked back over his shoulder with a deviant twinkle in his eye.

Oh great.

Sighing softly she caught up to her double-trouble at the front door and yes, Dan and Maze were back from their emergency stakeout. Surprisingly, even her roommate seemed more than happy to watch, and re-watch and rewind and freeze the video to the point where even Chloe was a little sick of it. Taking a break from where she’d perched on the end of the couch to peer over Trixie happily ensconced between her dad and her ‘wicked cool bff’ she decided to see what had happened to Lucifer. He’d pleaded boredom a while ago, and had ‘gone off to get a proper drink to better choke down all this bloody holiday nonsense stuck in my craw’.

He hadn’t come back.

Chloe peeked around before spotting him with a tumbler paused halfway to his mouth just staring out their kitchen window. He had something small in his other hand, but from this angle, Chloe could not see what it was.

“Lucifer?”

“Er?” He spun toward her, slightly startled and slipped the object into his pocket.

“You okay?”

“Certainly. Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve survived your urchin’s stage presence for at least another year, so all’s right enough with my world.” He said this with a smile after a sip, but it did not quite reach his eyes.

“Mhm.” It was the same thoughtful hum she’d used earlier, the same one she ALWAYS used with Lucifer, actually. At least when she wasn’t angry.

Their détente was broken by Trixie piling into the kitchen, followed closely by Maze and Dan. Despite the hubbub of commentary and evaluation of her show, Trixie was the first one who saw Lucifer slip away once more, this time to sit outside on top of their picnic table. Chloe began to turn, but was stopped by a small, sure hand on her elbow.

“Chillax Mom, I got this. He’s my friend, too. Even if he is a drama queen.”

And with that a felted reindeer ass full of sass and determination sallied out the back door. Dan raised an eyebrow, Maze raised her eyebrow-and-a-half and Chloe decided Lucifer’s idea of drinking to deal wasn’t half-bad by far.

~ * ~

Lucifer could practically feel Trixie even before she scrambled up onto the table to sit next to him. Honestly, the child had no sense of personal space – or just  sense itself  sometimes. But he understood those traits to be his own as well and so could forgive her for them more easily.

It didn’t mean he had to  like  it, though.

“What, tired of all the accolades already? Come to join me out here in your…” Lucifer gave the little outdoor space a disparaging glance, “…cement playpen? It’s a trifling spot, really.”

Like her mother, Trixie could see through his crap pretty well and ALSO like her mother could ignore his deflective noise.

“Why are you holding my snow globe, Lucifer?”

“Oh!” He looked from the small human on his left side to the smaller object in his right hand. Distracted as he was he’d almost forgotten about it. “Well? I’m not certain, come to think of it.”

Trixie’s brow puckered.

Lucifer huffed. Silent inquisition – juvenile, no less - was the worst. “I don’t think I understand the point. It’s just a false pretense. Not real. Not even that attractive a toy, to be honest. Sorry.”

Trixie reached over to take it from him. She gave it a shake and stretched her small arm up toward the safety lamp beyond their gate. With that angle, the light caught the swarm of sparkles inside and Lucifer could almost hear the silent music they danced to. They both watched until the glittering motes settled to the bottom once more and Trixie relaxed her arm down to cradle the toy in both hands.

“It’s all in how you look at it, I guess.”

Lucifer thought about those small words from that small voice for a minute. Then she added some more.

“But yeah, I see what you mean. It’s really not that pretty – not until you shake it, and even then - well. Not the kind of shiny you’re used to, huh?” He knew she meant Lux, but her words could apply to all sort of ‘shiny’ things he’d vast experience with.

Not as if the child should know this, though.

Although sometimes he felt as if she could, prodded properly. Story for another day, that.

Lucifer took a deep breath, widened his eyes and then took the toy back. He turned it over in his hands carefully, watching as the little sparkles moved through the fluid. It wasn’t as appealing without the light shining through it, but the swirls of movement were oddly soothing.

“It’s not how I remember snow.”

Trixie laughed, but there was a rather mature edge to it. As there had even been since the night Malcolm had stolen some of her innocence. “That’s because it’s not real! This is like the Frosty skit’s magical Christmas snow.” Her face fell slightly and she leaned on his arm to watch the last bits settle again. “I’ve never even seen real snow. Not in person or anything.”

“I have. It’s awful.”

“Really? It always looks so beautiful on TV and movies.”

“All in how you look at it, I suppose.”

Trixie scrunched her nose at him as he parroted her own words back. With an indignant huff, she slumped against him a little more. It was a sweet, effortless gesture and he rather liked it. Not that he’d tell her, of course.

“Are you feeling better now, Lucifer?”

Oddly enough, he was. Although he had no idea why, really. Or what was truly bothering him in the first place. Oh hell, that list was long; pick anything. But again, this was a  child . The child of a miracle, and possibly even one in her own right, but a child nonetheless and ought to be treated as one while she still could be. So, simple was adequate.

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“Good. Well, I’m gonna go back in. This reindeer suit is making my butt itch.”

“Charming. Simply charming. You have all the manners of an ill-bred goat.”

Trixie just grinned and hopped off the picnic table, or at least as well as she could what with the bulky faun’s legs over her own slender ones. As she walked away, Lucifer was struck by impulse. Since tis happened often, he followed through as a matter of course though he felt sure he’d regret it later.

“Hey!”

The little girl half-turned back. “Hey what?”

“Perhaps our next secret driving lesson can be somewhere a little…chillier.” Lucifer shook the globe and held it out into the light once more. And if he allowed a little of his own to make the sparkles shine brighter than they ever could unassisted, **well** , who would dare thwart him?

The only thing more brilliant than the glittering toy was the shine in Trixie’s eyes. “You mean it? REALLY?!”

“Yes I do. Abysmal that you haven’t seen real snow yet. You can decide for yourself to hate it or not.”

Her smile was bright and beautiful and he turned away quickly before she saw a matching one bloom over his own face. Lucifer continued to roll the globe gently in his hands, watching his glow light up the radiant sparks. He didn’t need the false dawn of the streetlamp to make it exquisite – he could do that on his own if he chose.

Perhaps there were other things in his life that didn’t need any more outside influences? Hm. **Perhaps** he should just work with what he already had. Quite a tidbit to consider, really.

Lost in thought he startled when he felt the tabletop creak under his rear.

Chloe.

Unlike her daughter she didn’t clamber up against him, though he dearly wished she would. But she sat near and bathed him in smile that was far brighter than anything the toy – enhanced or otherwise – had yet shown.

After a silent moment she leaned over and kissed him. Not on the mouth; not as she had on the beach when the heart he’d never wanted had surely been stolen from him, no – not like that. Just a soft, sweet kiss to the stubble over his cheek. And it warmed off the last bit of frost thinking of Hell’s snow and ash had rimed him with this night.

“Not as if I object, but what was that for?”

“You looked like you needed it.”

“Oh? Is that so? Well, fair’s fair. What is it that **you** need, then?”

Chloe puffed a soft breath into the calm air. “Truth be told, I really don’t know sometimes.”

They were both silent. Just watching the glimmers, muted now, flicker through the little globe. Each feeling on edge somewhat, but still content enough if the other was there. And even though she hadn’t asked him in words, after a little while Lucifer answered aloud anyway.

“Me either, Detective. For lots of reasons. Me either.”

Chloe reached out to give his wrist a reassuring squeeze and the smile she offered was small, but very real.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Think so, eh?”

“I know it.”

With that, the fallen angel shook Trixie’s toy and they watched the pretend snow dance in the light once more. And how they chose to see it was beautiful.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was "Snow is nothing like ashes (but they look similar)".


End file.
